Bed Bugs, Who Pays?

In Bed Bugs, Pests in August, Pests in July, Pests in September, Pests in Summer

Bed Bugs, Who Pays? Should Landlords Pay?
Some Landlords will pay for Bed Bug treatments especially if the tenants have just moved in but many won’t using the excuse that the new tenants might have bought the Bed Bug infestation with them. Either way it is difficult to prove. We have just had a case involving a large Housing Association and a Bed Bug infestation. A couple of tenants reported Bed Bug problems to the Housing Association, they told the tenants to sort the problem out themselves, they tried but for whatever reason the treatments failed (not many companies are as good at Bed Bug treatments as PEST UK!), this treatment failure lead to the Bed Bugs spreading to five5 other adjoining properties. The premises is a block of flats. (Five other properties have reported bed Bug infestations, there will probably be other properties that have Bed Bugs but as yet haven’t reported this.) Due to the tenants complaints the Housing Association has asked us at PEST UK to treat these five infested properties. Now if the Housing Association had treated the first two infested properties when they were first reported they would have saved themselves a lot of money as well as exposing their tenants to a lot of distress. Bed Bug infestations are extremely unpleasant and the preparation prior to treatment is extensive as well as disruptive for the tenant. I believe in this case that there will be a lot more than the initial five properties with Bed Bug problems. Bed Bugs can spread to flats either side as well as above and below.

So really a reasonable Landlord should pay but there are a lot that won’t. Some will just refuse and won’t care about their tenants welfare or if the problem spreads, such is the demand for cheap rented accommodation.